The fastest way to Start a Business

You might be thinking that to start your own business will involve endless hours of work and years of commitment. Well, the truth is that most businesses do require lots of effort. But there are plenty of other types of businesses that you can start on the side or part-time, and get up and running in a number of days. Most of these business ideas require only a small investment; many of them require little if any expertise; and many of them you can operate from your home.

Unfortunately, so many of them never start a business because they put up barriers in their own mind. One of those barriers is that they think “starting a business” is an arduous task that will take them months and months, if not years, of planning and preparation.

In reality, the paperwork of starting a business is almost trivial compared to everything else you’ll need to do to start and run a business. But before you embark on filing anything, make one sale.

1. Make One Sale

Before you go down the route of “starting” a side business, make a sale. Just one.

If you wanted to start a snow shovelling service, would you start by incorporating your business, getting insurance, paying for advertising, or opening a bank account?

No, that’s crazy. You would find a shovel and go door to door looking for people to pay you to shovel their driveway.

That’s what you should be doing with whatever business you’re considering. Make one sale. You will learn a tremendous amount about your market by selling your product or service to one person. After you make one sale, sell it to a second.

After you’ve made the first dozen sales, you’ll know whether you have a business on your hands, a nice hobby, or a dream that can’t be realized. It’s valuable to do this before you waste time and money doing the paperwork of forming a business.

2. Startup Paperwork

So you’ve made some sales and you’re ready to make it official. You need to do some paperwork

3. Don’t Waste your time on Business Plan (for now).

Do you need a business plan eventually? Yes, especially when it comes to courting and securing investors.

Do you need a business plan now? Probably not.

4. Business Registration & Business Accounts

If you’re starting a simple business that has no licensing, bonding, or major insurance requirements, the rest is easy. It’s a three step process:

Register your company as LLC/ Pvt Ltd/ or Proprietorship

Obtain GST, EIN

Open a Business Account

Do you need to incorporate?

It depends. Incorporating is a must if there are any potential liabilities associated with your business because it shields you from your business, if set up properly. You are often not required to incorporate and can operate as a sole proprietor. As is the case with any type of legal advice, check with a professional and with the requirements of your state.